WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A Texas group offered a $50,000 reward Tuesday for anyone who could prove President George W. Bush fulfilled his duties in the Air National Guard in 1972.
The reward offer comes amid new controversy over Bush's National Guard Service in which documents, some of which have had their authenticity questioned, allege Bush used family influence to enter the Guard and also shirked his duties for a time while in it.
The controversy, which erupted and subsided in past elections, follows attacks on Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam record and anti-war activism by a group of veterans who served with Kerry in Vietnam.
"Bush's dishonesty about missing service during Vietnam goes to the heart of his presidency," said Glenn Smith of Texans for Truth. "He was dishonest then just as he was misleading about why we went to war in Iraq."
Texans for Truth, which began running ads Monday in some in swing states, is a so-called 527 non-profit advocacy group formed by Smith, who also heads an organization called DriveDemocracy.org. That organization was funded initially by MoveOn.org, an anti-Bush group which has criticized Bush and his policies for months.
